


to know a loving touch

by thesetemplebones



Category: The Last Kingdom, The Warrior Chronicles | The Saxon Stories - Bernard Cornwell
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Drabble, F/M, Light-Hearted, Oral Sex
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-28
Updated: 2017-06-28
Packaged: 2018-11-20 01:16:39
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,523
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11325633
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thesetemplebones/pseuds/thesetemplebones
Summary: At another time, she would have wished for him to be blind to her.At another time.





	to know a loving touch

**Author's Note:**

> Honestly, they deserved better. :'(

**" _I urge you to please notice when you're happy."  
_** _**-Kurt Vonnegut** _

 

******P** agans, heathens, were a few of the words that her father and mother called the Danes. When she was younger, another time in her life, Aethelflaed agreed with her father, the Great King Alfred. A part of her always admired them because Uthred was a Pagan after all.

Aethelflaed found herself sitting at the water’s edge, looking out across the water to a distant horizon. The upper half of her body lay naked as she splashed cool water up her arms, feeling the droplets of water run down the bare skin of her back. She cast a glance over her shoulder and she had to smile as Erik, who sat further back at the top of the path that led to the lake, remained focus on the water. Always so polite, that north man.

She knew he sneaked glances when she was busy bathing herself. She could feel his eyes upon her; she blushed as the thought of him staring at her sent thrills of pleasure throughout her body.

At another time, she would have wished for him to be blind to her.

_At another time._

When she was still a foolish girl with foolish ideas of love. Before she had married Aethelred.

_At another time._

Before Erik pleaded with her to eat and he would find her a proper place to bathe in privacy.

Aethelflaed splashed cold water on her face before she stood and slipped her arms back into the sleeves of her dress. She had been out here long enough and she didn’t want Erik to get into any more trouble than he already was with his brother.

“You are done, lady?”

“Yes,” she gave him a small smile as she approached him. “I have bathed enough for today.”

Erik raised his eyebrow, his blue eyes staring down at her with question and worry.

“I won’t have you getting into too much trouble today,” she teased.

Erik groaned and rolled his eyes.

“Erik,” she placed a hand upon his cheek, her thumb brushing against the scar that laid just below his eye. “I know there’s tension between you two because of me. I am not blind to it just because I spend most of my time in a cell.”

Erik sighed and covered her hand with his own as his other grabbed her waist and pulled her closer. He pressed his lips to her forehead and breathed her in. “You need not worry about my brother or I.”

“I do.”

Aethelflaed pulled back from him and looked up, “I do worry for you.”

He stared back at her and gently cupped her face with both of his hands, “you are precious, Lady.”

At another time she would have flinched and been as far away from his touch as she could get. That time had long since passed.

That night Erik did not visit her and she did not take it personal.

* * *

 

The following night as Aethelflaed stared out of the small window; the moon bright and high above in the sky, Erik came and freed her from her cell. If only for an hour or two.

Aethelflaed hadn’t known peace like this until she had met Erik. As they sat beside one another, breathing in the fresh night air and staring up at the moon, Aethelflaed felt at peace. She had never experienced peace quite like this, not even when she was in prayer. They could sit in silence without the anxious need to fill it with words.

She also hadn’t known that her body could become on fire with just a brush of his finger against her neck as he moved her hair away. Erik made her feel things that she had never felt and would never feel with Aethelred. When Erik touched her, he was so gentle as if she were this fine piece of glass that would shatter. His kisses, she was barely able to feel the brush of his lips against her earlobe as he kissed the spot where her shoulder met her neck. Her eyes slipped closed, leaning her head to the side so he had better access. Thoughts of where else she wanted to feel his lips made her blush and her body warm.

She would need to dive into the lake soon.

_You are precious, Lady._

Aethelflaed turned her head and Erik turned his attention away from the sky. She didn’t know what came over her except that she _needed_ him. She wanted all of his undivided attention… _needed_ it.

She leaned forward and as usual, Erik met her halfway. His hand came up to cup her cheek, his thumb brushing against her jawline, as she placed both of her hands around his neck. As their lips pressed against each others in gentle kisses, Aethelflaed’s right hand cupped the back of his neck and pulled him closer. She opened her mouth and Erik quickly allowed her tongue entrance into his mouth. Aethelflaed was inexperienced in all ways of love but with Erik, it seemed so natural. Her body knew what she needed and he knew how to give it to her.

Without interrupting their heated kiss, she guided his hand from her face, down to her breast. Through the thin material of her dress she could feel her hardened nipple. The things this man did to her body were unimaginable. She felt so truly blessed.

Erik pulled back, both of them breathing heavily, “are you sure?”

Aethelflaed with her swollen lips and flushed face nodded. She moved her hand from his neck to his face and smiled, “you are the man I choose to be with.”

Something changed the moment those words left her lips. Erik returned to kissing her but with more urgency, as if he were dying of thirst and her mouth was the only way to quench it. He applied pressure to her breast and she sighed, leaning her head back and exposing her neck.

Everything was light and fuzzy; all of her nerves were tingling and she couldn’t remember how Erik had laid her down on the ground and removed her upper torso from the confines of her dress. She could only feel the pleasure as he pressed gentle kisses to each of her breasts. She moaned as he licked her hardened nipple and played with the other. She could only breath as she felt the wetness growing between her legs as he nipped at her neck and trailed down to her collarbone, only to trail further.

* * *

 

At the first press of his tongue against her clit, Aethelflaed gasped, her eyes flying open and raising herself up on her elbows to stare down at him. She certainly had never felt _that._

“Do you want me to continue?”

“Yes,” Aethelflaed begged, “dear God, yes.”

Erik chuckled and pressed his tongue to her again. Aethelflaed balled her hands up into fists, as she moaned and moved her hips in rhythm to him. She couldn’t handle herself at the moment and quite frankly, she enjoyed it.

When he added one of his fingers inside her and began to slowly pump it in and out of her, Aethelflaed groaned and arched her back up off the ground. Erik’s arm wrapped around her waist, keeping her from escaping, as his other hand came to cup her breast. Aethelflaed’s hand was quick to grab onto it, she was sure she had scratched him but in that moment she was beyond herself. He laced their fingers together as he moved his other hand down and once again filled her with his touch.

When she came, her eyes flew open and she stared up at the moon and stars. _Praise him_ , she thought, _praise him to God and his Gods and to the heavens._

As he slowly kissed his way back up her trembling body, Aethelflaed’s eyes once again slipped close, bathing in his touches… in his _love._ He himself was trembling and when he kissed her, she could taste herself.

Erik wiped away some stray hairs from her face and pressed a kissed to her forehead, “are you alright, lady?”

Aethelflaed couldn’t form words at the moment so she nodded, taking in deep breaths at the harsh pounding of her heart. After another moment she pressed a chaste kiss to his lips, “yes, Erik. I am more than alright.”

Erik smiled and she could see the devotion and pride twinkle in his eyes before he kissed her again and then laid his head against her chest, covering her bare body with his own. He kissed her where her heart was and she wrapped her arms around him, holding him to her. She pressed a kiss to the side of his head.

At another time she would feel guilt and shame but she did not. That time, was a lifetime ago. Right now she felt loved, wanted and dare she say, happy.

Erik, a Pagan, a heathen, a Dane, made her happy. At another time she believed that Aethelred would be able to make her this happy but now she knew Erik was her happiness.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for taking the time to read my work. I hope you enjoyed it! :)


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